The blimp docked Wild West Island, and the first thing that hit me were the surroundings. We were in the desert in probably the 1800s, hence the wooden buildings, cacti and people dressed like cowboys. The sun beamed down on us, shining on the 'Dusty Gulch' sign. Fierce Fox and I raced across the hot sand, passing various buildings in the dusty (like the name) country town.
"C'mon Elmer, settle, settle!" a cowboy wearing a blue attire exasperated to a horse, in front of a little barn. I glanced at Fierce Fox.
"That's our ride," I explained. "Not really any cars on the island- yet they have trains." Fierce Fox gave me a look. "Anyway, talk to that cowboy, and say you can tame Elmer. Then, just keep steady on the horse, and you'll win." Fierce Fox nodded, and climbed aboard the pale brown horse's broad back. I watched her swing on Elmer, like she was at a rodeo. He has a thick, brown mane and shiny black hooves, which clopped like mad as he swung back and forth. A little while later, Fierce Fox bet him.
"I'll be darned- you did it!" the cowboy cried. "That's some impressive riding, cowpoke. He's all yours." And so that's how we adopted Elmer. Unfortunately there was only one saddle on the horse, and I couldn't walk everywhere.
"Uh…" I faced the cowboy. "Are there... Anymore horses I can borrow?"
"There's one in the ranch, but I ain't givin' away horses." the cowboy answered.
"I'm the prophesied hero," I replied, putting my title to use. "I need a horse for… hero stuff." Sigh.
The cowboy narrowed his eyes. "I can see that," he snorted. "That El Mustachio and his gang are after you. At least that's what the rumors are."
"Honestly I'm not surprised," I grumbled. I was getting tired of all these villains. "Look… can I borrow that extra horse?" An idea formed in my head. "I'll give you something valuable that you'll never find on this island. Trust me."
"Hmm," the cowboy said inquisitively. "What is it?"
"A colour camera. You take a picture, and it's in colour." I replied. That got the cowboy's attention.
"Alright," he said. "You can have the horse, but I'll be wanting that camera. And don't forget to bring my horse back. I'll be callin' the marshal if you don't."
"Got it." I promised, as the cowboy led me to my horse. I decided to name the caramel-coloured horse Bronze. She has shiny black hooves; chocolate-brown mane; a dab of white under her eyes. She's surprisingly tame and easy to ride, though I've never ridden a horse in my entire life. Yet again, it was only after I got used to it. I was a bit… all over the place at first. I think I could've starred on America's Funniest Home Videos.
Anyway, we took a letter from a lady with a tired horse, and trotted across the desert to a town called Diamond Plains. The Diamond Plains is a little town, but definitely larger and more developed than Dusty Gulch: broader buildings and structures. We headed into the saloon, me thanking that Mom wasn't watching or she would've flipped.
I could smell alcohol as soon as I entered, and see a wooden floor and purple wallpaper. Cowboys hang out there; they appeared to be having a good time. On the right side of the room, some cowboys were trying to spit disgusting gum into a vase. I wouldn't exactly call it my idea of fun. Thank goodness I didn't get to play it- Fierce Fox did. Besides, I'd had enough of aiming things, thanks to numerous games of darts from Cryptids.
"Not bad, young'n, not bad," one of the cowboys said to Fierce Fox once she won. "There's your Marshal Taylor, snoring like a steam train." We saw an elder cowboy 'snoring like a steam train' at a table, his golden star badge on his hat shimmering. The two of us headed over to him; I jabbed his shoulder.
"We have a letter for you." I explained, holding out the letter.
"Ugh… the words are all blurry. Can you read it to me?" Marshal Taylor dozily asked. I grimaced at his cup of root beer.
"All right," I sighed, scanning over the letter. "'Marshal Taylor, help! We just got word El Mustachio and his gang are targeting our bank for a big heist! -Manager, McGready's bank'."
"Sorry kid, I can't help," Marshal Taylor replied. He looked at me. "Uh oh… you're that hero."
"Glad you recognize me." I mumbled. I didn't know why, but everyone recognizing me as 'hero' was really getting on my nerves. I preferred being just Alice, or not recognized at all. Perhaps it felt less daunting.
"Which means that gang'll be after you," Marshal Taylor said, shaking his head. "I can't take care of 'em for you. See, I got into a gunfight with life, and life won. However, your friend 'ere can be the marshal," He handed Fierce Fox a badge. "You two can take down that Mustachio gang. They say heroes always wanna help." He glanced at me one more time. "Just be careful, kid. I've heard what they want with you ain't good." Then he got up and walked away.
"I've heard too," I grumbled, watching him leave. "Come on Marshal," I said, turning to Fierce Fox. "Let's go take down that stupid Mustachio gang."
We returned to Dusty Gulch. I had to take Fierce Fox's photo with this really ancient camera, which made me remember my promise to the ranch guy. He was going to be very happy with his gift, because the old camera took a lot of work to maneuver (and it wasn't so colourful). After that stressful experience, we headed back to Diamond Plains. Fierce Fox entered the marshal's building. I stuck around outside; I didn't want to meet the Mustachio gang quite yet.
Just as I expected, there'd been a jailbreak, and Fierce Fox had received a pea shooter. Fierce Fox was the new marshal, so she was pulled into going after the Mustachio gang. I climbed onto Bronze and followed after her, as she chased the gang on Elmer. I knew she wasn't going to be able to catch them, no matter how close she got.
"Dagnabbit! They got away!" Fierce Fox grumbled, already picking up on Western slang. I rode next to her, clutching Bronze's reigns.
"Nevermind," I reassured. "We'll catch them later. For now, it's time to go to Dos Cactos."
After a short trip (I got stuck on a rock on the way there; not exactly my idea of fun), we arrived at Dos Cactos. Well, before we actually entered the town, we participated in a shooting contest. Fierce Fox had the gun, so she entered. I helped her out best I could (despite my currently terrible aiming skills). Eventually we won the contest, and got the potato- well, it's called spud- gun.
Now that we had a better gun, we could enter the grand and fancy casino to do some gambling. Of course I was never really into gambling, but I preferred it to shooting things, and besides, Fierce Fox needed a break. So I played a game of slapjack- mind you, I did lose once- but eventually I won and received a gold map.
We exited the casino, and came to Dos Cactos. It has a bit of a Mexican feel to it: old stone buildings and lots of cacti. It's the most deserted, at least in my opinion. The first peculiar thing we found was a red-headed boy, with a larger-than-normal head. It was at least twice the size of an average head, and looked rather uncomfortable. The boy told us the only way to help him was to find the blue tulip.
The next town was Rock Ridge. We didn't get to see much of the bustling town, since we had to speak to a lady who needed our help to rescue a straying cow. So we traveled back into the desert, and began chasing after a runaway cow, with the assistance of a lasso from the lady. We chased a brown, spotted cow across the desert, sand at our horses' hooves. The two of us spotted the cow.
I went in front of it, circling it like a sheepdog. It started moving backwards, where Fierce Fox was waiting and swirling the lasso in the air like a real cowboy. We caught the cow (somehow) and managed to drag it back to the lady. She gave us an old saddle for our work. We set off through the town and ran into a rather stylish wagon, at least in that day and age. It said 'R.J Earls'.
We witnessed a guy drink one of R.J Earls' potions and turn invisible. He raced off in anger. We couldn't afford anything from R.J Earls quite yet, so we passed him and came to a small, wooden bank. The bank manager complained to Fierce Fox about El Mustachio and his stupid gang coming to rob the bank. She promised to help, then the two of us left Rock Ridge and returned to good old Dusty Gulch.
We entered a trading post. I haven't been to many trading posts, but I have to say this one's on the large scale, due to the many objects hanging near the dirty, wooden walls. We traded the old saddle in for a gold pan. Then, using the map from the casino, we traveled across the barren desert to a little river, where apparently gold can be found. It took about half an hour, but we eventually did find gold.
Although we had the gold, we didn't use it straight away. We revisited the trading place, and traded back the gold pan for an oil can. Then we headed to Diamond Plains, and came to this old clock tower. It looks like an abandoned construction site, covered in blankets. Dust shimmers through boarded-up windows. We jumped through one of these windows, landing in the dusty room. The walls are wooden planks, and there are wooden structures everywhere.
We climbed up these wooden structures, which required quite an amount of jumping. I fell off a few times. However, we eventually got to the top, where there's a giant clock's golden machinery. Using the oil, we got the machinery to whir again, and the clock started working. Like magic, the train pulled into the station. Naturally we climbed aboard.
The train was journeying to Rock Ridge. It was a relatively peaceful ride, aside from the Mustachio gang holding a train robbery. Fierce Fox used the 'spud' (I really don't like that name for some reason) gun, while I used the pea shooter. I'm definitely no ace with guns, and I wasn't in any mood to get shot, so I kept hiding underneath the window ledge. The gang spotted me pretty quickly, much to my annoyance.
"It's the girl!" one of the members cried. "I knew she was here!"
"Looks like this train robbery's gonna be a lot more interestin'." another member commented. They ganged up near my window, holding their guns out. Great.
"Not so fast!" Fierce Fox cried, shooting repeatedly at them. Each potato inflicted enough damage that they had to run away from me, but only for a little while. My pea shooter was totally useless, and inflicted no damage whatsoever. Really reliving.
"Get her, you idiots!" the ringleader- I guess- cried (probably El Mustachio's deputy). They kept coming back, and holding up their guns. I wondered how my mother would react if she saw me now. Oh well. I'd done much more terrifying things than fight off some cowboys with a gun full of peas. I didn't think Mom would like to know about those.
Regardless, they were gaining on us. Fierce Fox kept shooting, with serious accuracy. I wondered how she became so flipping talented; when I was her voice she was no better than me. It made me think about the NPC's voices, and wondered if they applied to Fierce Fox when I wasn't there. A potato flying past my ear reminded me that now wasn't the time to think, and instead the time to focus on battle. But then I had one last thought: the voice is supposed to control all Poptropicans, but now it's making them do things that they never originally did. I have a feeling there's a new voice going around, and it ain't exactly my friend.
The timer for the train went off; we managed to escape the Mustachio gang. We arrived at Rock Ridge, the gang yelling curses at us. We were going to meet again later, and let's just say it wasn't going to be a nice little tea party. Anyway, we returned to the R.J Earls guy, and with the gold nugget, bought one of every potion he had. And then it was time to go into the mine.
Firstly, I grabbed half a map to the Mustachio gang hideout on this pole. That would come in use for later. Then, Fierce Fox and I went to the entrance of the brown mine, nearby a bunch of minecarts. I'd lost count of times I'd been underground, and I think I was only just starting to get used to it.
Fierce Fox and I unlocked the door, entering the creepy mine. To my fear, the roof was dripping, and everywhere around me was darkness. Then rocks started plummeting down from the ceiling, like it was raining. Despite knowing I was going to be totally fine, I still got apprehensive.
The rockfall ended and we proceeded. I glanced at the wooden planks poking from the ground, leaning against the dirt walls. Random crystals also shoot from the grounds, like plants. A waiting minecart stood in front of us, sitting on the railway. Because this is Poptropica, Fierce Fox and myself climbed in, and it started rolling. Mamma mia.
The minecart zoomed along the tracks, through the dark, ravenous cave. The whole place was rumbling, and rocks occasionally fell down. I felt like screaming, hiding, and strangely, being thrilled all at the same time.
"Fire your potato gun," I ordered Fierce Fox. "Hit all the signs. And let me know when it's over." I ducked, as the minecart kept moving. I heard paths being shifted, and felt the minecart changing directions. I probably looked like a total doofus, but I could barely aim anyway, so it was probably better that I skipped shooting targets.
We survived the minecart ride (yet again, Poptropican physics), and arrived at this shadowy, moist, cave area. Rocks are covered in moss and glowing blue spots, like some sort of alien grass. The cave's roof has an exit, which is full of glowing, blue crystals. In the middle of the room, upon a rock platform, was a shimmering, blue tulip- the reason why we came underground once again. As soon as Fierce Fox plucked the flower from the ground, rocks poured from everywhere, like it was raining once more. The scene blacked out.
When the dust cleared, we were in a crevice, not too far underground. A rope was dangling above our heads, ready to take us out into the open. We popped out nearby the lady with the spotted cows (don't ask how), and somehow, our horses were there too. I climbed onto Bronze; Fierce Fox on Elmer, and we headed to Dos Cactos, which isn't too far from the ranch lady.
We found the boy with the big head; I handed him the blue tulip. He did some sort of action with it; his head shrunk back to normal. In gratitude, he gave us the other half of the hideout map, so we could head right over to the Mustachio gang who wanted to kill me. Life is really fun sometimes.
The good news is they weren't expecting us. The bad news is they were totally prepared, so if we got caught, it was goodbye world. However, we had the R.J Earls potions, which made us invisible. We sneaked past the gang, who were wielding their guns. Their headquarters- a simple, wooden house- was behind them. Notice how I say 'was', and not 'is'. If you're any smarter than me then you'll realize that this next scene ain't gonna be swell.
Apprehensively, Fierce Fox and I entered the building. The gang members flipped out when they saw me (since the potion wore off).
"It's the girl!" one of the members cried.
"Get her before she gets away!" another one snapped. They held their guns out, including the main man, El Mustachio Grande.
"Hold it, fellas," El Mustachio said, coming out into the spotlight. "I'll deal with this."
"What do you want from me?" I demanded, my voice cracking.
"Immortality'll be mine!" El Mustachio screamed, aiming his gun. It shot me in the chest, and I felt a brief stab of pain. Not death: I knew I had a few shots left before I actually died. Fierce Fox countered on my behalf by shooting her potato gun.
"What do you mean?" I asked in reply, as the gang continued to fire bullets. I lost another two lives. I didn't want to loose anymore, so I crept behind a box, praying they wouldn't find me. Will they get immortality if they kill me or something? I thought, as Fierce Fox shot away some of the members. What don't I know?
"Your friend has been defeated!" El Mustachio cackled, as he and his gang surrounded me, their wooden house creaking. They held out their guns. "Now you will come with us!"
"No!" I cried, but I realized there was nothing I could do. I was cornered. "Someone! Help!" Suddenly Fierce Fox burst through the door, back to life (you know what physics to blame).
"Get away from her!" she cried, shooting the gang with her potato gun. They fired back at her, getting into a fight. I crept away while they were doing that, and then I realized I had no plan whatsoever. Fierce Fox was going to get caught again, and so was I. Then I had a really reckless idea.
I spotted an ignited candle on a shelf. I've been to enough fire safety lessons to know about burning candles in wooden buildings. I trotted over to the candle, bending my knees to jump up and shove it.
"NOT SO FAST!" it was El Mustachio, and he did not look happy. He snagged my arms, and pulled me back. "You're mine now, lil' girl!"
"HEY!" Fierce Fox shouted, firing her gun again. It hit El Mustachio; he slumped to the ground. However, his pesky gang were forming a crowd around me, as if I was some sort of celebrity. But instead of asking for my autograph, they reached out to grab me.
"Shoot for the candle!" I ordered Fierce Fox, because I knew there was no way I was going to be able to shoot it. Fierce Fox did such thing with her potato gun; the candle landed on the ground. The flame caught onto a curtain, and smoke started forming. The gang stared at the fire and gasped.
"Put out the fire!" one of the guys cried. The fire was a good distraction, because Fierce Fox was able to help me to my feet- the gang let me go- and we slipped out the door. But El Mustachio wasn't quite finished with me yet.
"You ain't escapin' today, hero!" he cried, reaching out to grab me.
"I'm not immortal!" I yelled back, falling over in an attempt to dodge him. "Why are you talking about immortality?"
"Because that's your bounty!" El Mustachio persisted, glaring at me. I raised my brow.
"Blasted hero!" one of the members inside the house screamed. "Everything's settin' on fire!"
"You may not be a hero," I said to El Mustachio. "But if I was you, I'd be in there trying to salvage everything before it burns."
El Mustachio turned to his hideout, which now had fire coming out the windows. He faced me. "You're a crafty one," he said. "I'd be keepin' an eye out if I were you." Then he slipped inside the building to save whatever he wanted to salvage.
"Let's go," I said to Fierce Fox. "I don't want to get burnt."
"Hey, mom," I asked, when I got up in the morning for school. I headed into the kitchen, where Mom was waiting for the toaster to finish cooking toast. "Do you know where my old camera is? Y'know, that one I used to use before… The incident."
"That old thing?" Mom questioned, raising her brow. "I think it's in the attic. Why?"
"It's for a payment." I answered, not giving my mom anytime to ask anymore questions. I crept into the attic, which I rarely visited. I found the camera sitting on a box of photos. I decided I didn't want to look at those, since they brought up memories I'd rather not think about, especially when I was having troubles in Poptropica. I picked up the camera, then left the attic, glancing briefly at the dusty interior. I sighed and walked off.